From the Minutes of the SFAB Meeting April 2 7 3, 2011:
"MOTION SC-01-01-11: Whereas the proposed Experimental Halibut Recreational Fishery is not a sport fishery as defined by the British Columbia Sport Fishing Regulations (BCSFR) and is not subject to the other regulations that apply to all tidal water recreational fisheries;
And whereas it would be inappropriate for the SFAB to exceed its Terms of Reference which describe its mandate as providing formal advice and making recommendations to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans “on matters relating to tidal recreational fisheries”;
And whereas the proposed Recreational Halibut Experimental Fishery contradicts the ethical spirit and intent of the angler Code of Conduct endorsed by the SFAB and contained in the British Columbia Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Guide by exempting participants from measures under the British Columbia Sport Fishing Regulations and the Fisheries (General) Regulations that are designed to encourage conservation and prevent the sale, trade and barter of recreational fish;
And whereas the proposed Recreational Halibut Experimental Fishery licence will be issued free and thereby exempt participants from contributing to the costs of fisheries management;
And whereas the proposal for a free licence undermines the credibility of DFO’s draft “Strategic Framework for Fishery Monitoring and Catch Reporting in the Pacific Fisheries” which calls for “self-funding of fishery monitoring and reporting” with both DFO and harvesters “challenged to pay their respective shares of monitoring and reporting costs”;
And whereas it would be inappropriate for the SFAB, as an advisory body to the Fisheries Minister, to support development of a program that allows commercial halibut quota holders to profit without actually fishing and thereby contradicts the stated policy of the Harper Government “to support the owner-operator principle” as well as Minister Shea’s personal commitment to “the owner-operator principle”;
And whereas the proposed Recreational Halibut Experimental Fishery is direct evidence that commercial halibut quota has come to constitute a form of private ownership of fish in advance of harvest, contrary to the observations of Justice Binnie in the Saulnier case that such a situation would constitute a ‘profit a prendre’ and thereby fetter the minister’s discretion under the Fisheries Act;
And whereas the SFAB does not wish to be in the position of encouraging a program which violates the DFO goal of economic prosperity by reducing the value of the halibut fishery to Canada by confirming the property rights of non-fishing speculators who pay an average of less than 10 cents a pound to government for their quota but demand exorbitant profits from both commercial and recreational harvesters through schemes that according to academic analysis are “limiting efficiency, stifling innovation, and causing financial hardship”;
And whereas participants in the SFAB process have frequently made clear their principled objection to the privatization of access to fish;
And whereas the proposed Recreational Halibut Experimental Fishery will create major enforcement problems for already hard-pressed Conservation and Protection officers;
And whereas the proposed Recreational Halibut Experimental Fishery violates Principles 3, 5, 6 and 9 of the recreational Vision policy in that this further privatization of fish ownership prior to harvest is inconsistent with the common property status of the fishery resource, undermines the economic and social value of recreational fishing as the means by which ordinary Canadians can access and experience the resource, conflicts with stable and predictable fishing opportunities, and does not foster the current and future potential of the recreational fishery;
And whereas DFO has required that the SFAB Terms of Reference ensure a majority of votes at local, regional and main board levels is always held by primary members who do not secure economic benefits from the recreational fishery, thereby making it impractical to try and secure support for a program which freezes the recreational allocation at 12% and demands that anglers pay ransom to non-fishing quota speculators if they want additional public access;
Therefore be it resolved: that the SFAB Main Board inform the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Minister that it would be inappropriate for the board to provide any advice on the structure and management of the proposed use of commercial quota since the program appears designed to perpetuate the private ownership of access to fish, fetter the minister’s authority, extend privatization to the recreational sector and undermine the opportunity of individual Canadians to have access to the common property fisheries resource for personal use.
And be it further resolved: that since halibut allocation will remain privatized at the expense of recreation under the new program, and since it will not be subject to regulation as a recreational fishery under the British Columbia Sport Fishing Regulations, the title of the new program be changed to reflect the fact that is a means of providing alternative access to commercial quota and call it the Commercial Leasing Alternative Project."
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Topic: SFAB Motion Re: Halibut (Read 2119 times)